Gathering of the Comboni Association for the Assistance of Migrants held in Rome, Italy

Sunday, March 27. The president of the Comboni Association for the Assistance of Migrants and Refugees (ACSE), Fr. Venanzio Milani, opened the gathering with words of thanks for the hospitality and by describing the program and the objectives of the day. “We, associates, volunteers, supporters, missionaries and friends of ACSE wish to meet here, at the Comboni community in Rome, in order to spend together a festive day of conviviality and sharing in the spirit of St. Daniel Comboni,” said Fr. Milani.

Words of welcome were offered by the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries, Fr. Enrique Sánchez González. In his address Fr. Enrique referred to the current situations of violence and war and to the heavy migrations of our days from North Africa and in other parts of the world. “These people today cross the borders of their own countries in search of a better life, dignified and peaceful! Comboni experienced this type of human condition in Africa and was sensitive to the sufferings and the needs of people. Consequently, the service to the immigrants that ACSE is offering is the visible realization of the charism of Comboni,” he said.

The history and the activities of ACSE from the beginning down to the present day were presented by Gianfranco Caporossi, one of the lay volunteers working with ACSE since its foundation by Fr. Renato Bresciani.  “Just as Daniel Comboni assumed the burden of an African continent of the exploited and of the abandoned, so Fr. Renato, Comboni Missionary, after having spent 10 years in the Sudan and after having experienced in person persecution and expulsion, discovered in Italy, in Rome, new forms of poverty. Thus, in 1969, ACSE was born – explained Gianfranco – which in 1995 was officially recognized as the Comboni Association for the Assistance of Migrants and Refugees.”

The objective of the Association, namely to welcome foreigners who arrive in Italy looking for work and for better living conditions, continues even today through the work of all those, missionaries and lay people alike, who have taken up the heritage of Fr. Renato. “The lay people are university professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, parents, students, and many more who share the migrants’ problems,” added Gianfranco. All the activities of ACSE are at the service of men and women and of their rights: citizenship, housing, employment, health, food, clothing and security. Gianfranco explains: “The operational structure of ACSE is subdivided in many services that are closely interconnected: Secretarial service, first contact and consultation; legal help; family care; health and dental clinic; basic food and clothing needs; Italian and English language classes; university formation for international students; computer courses; editing of the “Tam Tam” publication and many other social and pastoral activities.

The pastoral service takes into account the various cultures and religious practices of the migrants and is mostly in the hands of the director of the ACSE center, Fr. Claudio Crimi. “ACSE offers a robust pastoral service understood as promotion, improvement and safeguard of the religious, cultural and ethical values of the migrants,” clarifies Gianfranco. Catholics can avail themselves of Mass and catechesis every Saturday afternoon and catechumenate twice a week.

Another presentation, still in the morning, was given by Fr. Antonio Villarino, assistant general of the Comboni Missionaries, who spoke on San Daniel Comboni as a man and prophet of liberation. “Comboni – stated Fr. Villarino – was a man who lived a full, generous and visionary life, totally dedicated to the liberation of the neediest brothers and sisters of his time.”

There followed the celebration of the Eucharist in the Congolese rite, where the joys and the sufferings of life become thanksgiving and praise to the love and the mercy of God. Mass was followed by dinner in fraternal communion. In the afternoon, Corradino Mineo, director of RAINEWS 24, spoke on “Information North-South of the world and Africa today,” where he explained the flow of communication and information in the global world, dominated by ideological, political and economic powers.

The day of conviviality of the ACSE ended with the witness of some of the migrants and the greetings of Fr. Claudio Crimi and Comboni Sister Daria Gabardi.